Nine-year-old Odai Shanah, who attends school at the Islamic Center of San Diego, described huddling in a closet with trembling classmates after hearing gunshots ring out Monday morning. He was one of many students who were evacuated past victims' bodies by SWAT teams clearing the building room by room.

Shanah, whose mother is a Gaza refugee and his father emigrated from Jordan, said the ordeal left him physically shaken. "My legs were shaking and my hands and my head were like hurting a lot; I felt like a rock".

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